Torque measuring system



Nov, 2l, 1950 w. D. MAGGI-:ORGE

TORQUE MEASURING SYSTEM Filed May 23, 1945 Tq. E.

INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 21, 1950 'EORQUE- MEASURING SYSTEM William D'. Macgeorge, Drexef Hill", Pa., ass'gnor to The Baldwin Locomotive Works, a corpora-A tion of Pennsylvania Application May 23., 1945', Serial No. 595,294

(Cl. 7f3-136) Zi Claims.l I

This invention. relates to systems for measuring certain conditions associated with relatively movable members such as for measuring' thetorque of a shaft.

An object of` the invention is the provision of a simple and reliable means for. eliminating sliding contacts in the measuring system for conducting condition responses from the rotating member to an external point.

The accurate measurement of the above conditions in rotating shafts. of which torque will be referred to here for purposes of explanation, has heretofore been a very diicult and imperfectly solved problem. The difficulty in part sometimes arises from the high centrifugal forces involved. or the vibration, or the need to mountl on the shaft itself condition responsive or pickup means. It has heretofore been proposed to apply a condition responsive pickup, e. g'. electrical strain gages, to shaftifng for the measurement of the torque but the variations in the resistance of the sliprings usedin connection therewith left much to be' desired. The electric strain gages them-- selves of the type disclosed herein have been quite satisfactory because whenpropenfy located on the shaft trieir` change of impedancein response to. a change of shaft strain varies withy the applied torque..

In carrying: out the present invention in one formtl-Iereoi", one or more: strainy gages may be secured to the rota-ting` memberwhosen torque is to be measured. These strainy gages may be in cluded an electrical network which. willi be url-- balanced withchange iny they electrical resistance of one or more ot the. stra-in gages where, the gages are of the resistance type. The preset-itin@ vention as specifically disclosed herein for thepu-r.- pose of illustrating one particular formis characterized by the provision of a pair of. input coils,one of which is secured. to the shaft and the other of.

which is mounted in inductive relation thereto.

Electrical power is supplied to the stationary coil' and by induction to ther rotating coil and thence to the strain responsive gage network. The output from this strain. responsive network is applied to a second' pairofv coils, one of which is secured race of' the there is provided a magnetic and electrostatic shield toy minimize electrical and magnetic eects ot one set of coils upon the other. Further, in accordance with the invention, the output from the strain-responsive means is magnified by the' utilization of series-resonant andE parallel-reso4 nant circuits.

For a more complete understanding of' the invention, and for' further objects and advantages thereof, reference should be had to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in wlri'chzf Fig. 1' diagrammaticallyv illustrates one embodi"Y ment' of' the invention;A and Fig. 2 is av schematic wiring diagram of Fig. 1f.

Referring to Fig. 1, the inventionv in onel form has been illustrated as applied to the measure'- ment of' torque applied to a shaft l0. It is welll understood by those skilled' in the. art that the application of torque to a shaft results in a torsional strain which appears as tension and compression respectively at 45` from the shaft axis and from each other. Accordingly, the resistanceof a-strain-responsive means l' Ij cemented to the:y shaft I' with the resistance wire thereof disposed' at. approximately a 451' angle; with a line parallel. to thel axis ofthe shaft is will vary' with the strain of! the shaft.V The strain-responsive means II is preferably' of the' type disclosed inI Simmons No; 2,292,549 but any other well-known electrical pickup may be used whose impedance varies with strain'.` When cemented to ther shaftl mi, the' resistance of the bonded wire type. gauge H will'` vary in accordance with the f torsional strain which exists at the surface. of

the shaft itself.

As shown Fig.. 2 the gage ilV is included' ina measuring network I2 which includes' additional resistors i3, M and It".v To avoidv temperature effects the resistor I3 is preferably a strain gage likethe'- strain gage H, and if desired, need not be subjected to the torsional strain ofi' the shaft H);` althougha potirtemperature compensation and greater sensitivity' will. accrue they resistorA f3 is cemented to the shattl so that onei gage is in ten'- sion` amdA the? other 'rn compressionA andl similarly for the other two gages I4 and l5.

For* measuring networks of the' preferred type, iti i's-ne'cessary to` supply' powerl thereto and; toy pro vide anl output circuit ih which the voltage varies with changes in the' resistance of the' strain gage it.. Beca-use such resistance. changes arev small, variations of resistance in the circuit due. tov

other causes greatly' interfere with they accu"- In accordance with the invention, a suitable source of power supply such as the oscillator I6 is provided. It is connected to a stationary coil I1 which, Fig. 1, surrounds the shaft III. Disposed in inductive relation therewith is a secondary input coil I8 secured by hub I9 to the shaft. Current flowing from the oscillator I6 through the primary input coil I'I induces a voltage in the secondary input coil I8 which by means of conductors 2B and 2| is applied to the input terminals of the measuring network I2, of the Wheatstone bridge type.

Initially, that is, before application of torque to the shaft I0, the Wheatstone bridge I2 will be balanced. It may be readily brought into balance by moving a slidable contact 22 with respect to a resistor 23, connected across the resistors l and I5. The effect of this adiustment is to shift resistance from one side of the bridge to the other. This is done until the bridge is in balance. Application of torque to the shaft II) will then cause the resistor or strain gage I I to change its electrical resistance to unbalance the bridge. In consequence, a potential difference will appear across the output conductors 24 and 25. Included in the output circuit is a variable capacitor 2B and a primary output coil or winding 21. The coil 2'I' is secured to the shaft I0 as by the hub '28. Surrounding it is a stationary secondary winding 29. The capacitor 26 is adjusted with reference to the inductance of the coil 21 so as to tune the output circuit to resonance. By so tuning the circuit, advantage is taken of the characteristics of a series-resonant circuit; that is, a maximum current will flow through the coil 2'I in response to the potential difference produced by the strainresponsive means II. Accordingly, there will be induced in the output secondary coil 29 an amplified voltage which, by means of the output conductors 3| and 32, is applied to a thermionic ampliiier 33. The amplifier 33 is primarily a voltageresponsive device. Further to increase the input thereto, a variable capacitor 34 is connected across the output coil 29, and is adjusted to tune the circuit to resonance. In consequence there is produced maximum change in voltage on the output conductors SI and 32 because ofthe parallel resonance characteristics thereof. The amplifier itself is connected to an indicator and/or recorder 35, which may be calibrated in terms of the torque applied to the shaft I0.

Now that the principles of the invention have been explained, it will of course be understood that more than a single strain gage Il may be utilized. In some cases it may be desirable to utilise four strain gages each secured to the shaft I at angles of 45 with respect to the axis of the shaft. and each adjacent strain gage being angularly displaced with respect to the other. Obviously a sensitive indicator and! or recorder may be conneced directly to the conductors 3| and 32 whenever the output is adequate to operate it directly. In general the measuring network is secured to the shaft as indicated by the rectangle M. the network also including the Variable capacitor 26.

The oscillator I6 preferably supplies alternating current of a frequency which materially differs from that of the usual 60-cycle power supply circuit. Though the frequency is not critical, alternating currents of ten thousand cycles per second have been found satisfactory,` though the frequency may be more or less as may be desired'. Further. in accordance with the invention,'there is provided between the input coils I'I-I 8 and the output coils 21-29 a combined electromagnetic and electrostatic shield 40 of magnetic material. It is connected to ground and it has a diameter substantially greater than that of the stationary coils I'I and 29. In order to provide maximum magnetic shielding it is made relatively thick, that is it may have a thickness of one-half inch or more. Where the frequencies are high it is effective as an electrostatic shield, and for lower frequencies its primary effect is as a magnetic shield. Of course it functions at all times for both purposes to minimize the effect of the electric and magnetic fields of one set of coils I 'I-I upon the other set of coils 21-29. The shield 40 may be adiustable axially of the shaft since it is supported separately therefrom. It is adjusted for a maximum shielding effect. When external magnetic fields are present it has been found that the testing apparatus as a whole may be turned in a different direction to minimize the effects thereof, though in general the system will function satisfactorily with the shaft extending in any direction. y

Now that a preferred modification of the invention has been described. it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications may be made and it is, therefore. intended to set forth the true spirit and scope of the invention by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. .Tn a torque-measuring system of the type in which a strain-responsive resistor is secured to a rotatable member subjected to torque, thecomhination of a pair of inductively associated input windings, a pair of inductively associated output windings, means for securing one winding of each of said pairs to said member, a measuring network of the Wheatstone bridge type which includes said strain-responsive resistor, means including said input windings for supplying power to said Wheatstone bridge, an output circuit from said bridge connected to the one of said output windings secured to said rotatable member for producing a voltage across the other output winding which Varies with change in the resistance of said resistor, said output circuit including capacitors for producing series resonance in that part of the circuit including said movable output winding and for producing parallel resonance across said stationary output winding.

2. In a torcue-measuring system of the type in which a strain-responsive resistor is secured to a rotating shaft for varying its resistance in responce to torsional strain thereof, the combinationy of a pair of windings, one of which is stationary and is energized with alternating current and the other of which is rotatable with said shaft and inductively associated with said stationary winding, means including said first pair of windings for supplying power to said resistor, a second pair of inductively associated windings one of which is stationary and the other of which is rotatable with said shaft. a measuring network connected to said second rotatable winding for rotation with said shaft and including said resistor, a capacitor connected across the stationary winding of said second pair to produce parallel resonance thereof, a capacitor connected in series-circuit relation with said rotatable winding of said second pair for producing series resonance thereof, and a magnetic and electrostaticl shield disposed between said pairs of windingsf .i i Y.

, A.WILLIAM D. MACGEQRGE (References on following page) 5 6 REFERENCES CITED FOREIGN PATENTS The following references are of record in the Number Country Date me 0f this Patent: 385,792 Germany Nov. 29, 1923 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 470,454 Germany Jan. 15, 1929 Number Name Date 485,967 Germany NOV. 11, 1929 925,180 Harris June 15, 1909 OTHER REFERENCES 1,775,276 Ferguson et a1 Sept. 9, 1930 2,065,884 Braden Dec. 29 1936 Pages 686 and 690 only of v01. 63 of Electrlcal Engineering, Sept. 1944, these pages having parts llgnnfgn rl 10 of an article Aircraft-Engine Torque Instru., 2,986,008 shank ocu. 2, 1945 (lgodsey and B' F' Langer' Copy m 2,392,293 Ruge Jan. 1, 1946 2,415,513 Martin et a1. Feb; 11, 1947 2,431,260 Langer Nov. 18, 1947 15 

